Lithuanian drone detained in Russia last week was used for cigarette smuggling

May 14, 2014, 19:02 UTC+3KALININGRAD“It was the first time that a drone controlled by a foreign operator had been detained in the territory of the Kaliningrad region,” the spokeperson of the Russian Federal Security service says

KALININGRAD, May 14./ITAR-TASS/. A Lithuanian self-made drone detained in Russia’s westernmost Kaliningrad region last week was used for smuggling cigarettes into Russia, Oleg Dzhurayev, the press service chief of the Kaliningrad border department of the Russian Federal Security service, told ITAR-TASS on Wednesday.

A Russian-Lithuanian criminal group used the self-made drone aircraft for illegally smuggling cigarettes across the Lithuanian border into Russia. Dzhurayev said huge boxes with cigarettes had been found inside the drone when the border guards detained the aircraft on Lithuania’s border with Russia. He did not rule out the drone could have been used for other purposes, including unlawful actions in Russia’s territory.

It was established that the aircraft with a wing-spread of up to four meters had been made in Lithuania and had been radio-controlled from Earth. A GPS system had been built into it for navigation that made it possible for a drone operator to control the flight on a 3D card. The drone could take over 10 kilograms of cargo onboard. It rose for an altitude of up to four meters and dropped it in a designated area.

“It was the first time that a drone controlled by a foreign operator had been detained in the territory of the Kaliningrad region,” Dzhurayev stressed.

The Kaliningrad border service department is checking whether the drone could have been used for purposes other than cigarette smuggling, including unlawful actions in Russian territory.